This is an analysis of the Santa Barbara Real Estate market including Carpinteria/Summerland, Montecito, Hope Ranch, downtown Santa Barbara and Goleta through the month of February 2015. For the Single Family Home market the numbers of sales fell from the previous month to 56 in February from 69 in January and 80 in December. The median sales price rose however going to $1,035,000 in February from $1,000,000 in January and $962,500 in December. The opened escrows rose in February to 122 from 71 in January and the 70 we saw in December, while the median list price on those escrows stayed steady from $1,050,000 in January to about $1,050,000 in February. There were 138 new listings that came on the market in February with a median list price of approximately $1.6 million, which left the overall inventory rising from 247 units for sale at the start of February to roughly 260 at the start of March.
Year over year home sales are down about 3.1% from the start of 2014 and the median sales price is down to $1,000,000 from $1,087,500 at the start of last year. The numbers of escrows are up with about 134 thru February ’14 to 192 thru Feb ’15. But the median list price on those escrows is basically unchanged at roughly $1,050,000.
For the Condo segment of the market sales came in around 27 in February from 24 in January and 47 in December. The median sales price fell from $565,000 in January to roughly $542,500 in February, while the numbers of escrows rose from 34 in January to 38 in February with the median list price on those escrows falling from $612,000 in January to about $545,000 in February.
There were approximately 50 new condo listings that came on the market for the month with a median list price of about $560,000 rising from $549,500 the previous month. The overall inventory fell slightly from 94 units for sale at the start of February to 83 at the start of March.
Through the end of February sales of single family homes are down about 3.1% from ’14 while the median sales price for those homes is down to $1,000,000 from $1,087,500 last year. For condos, sales are up just slightly with the median sales price up about 3% to roughly $560,000. Of the single family homes that sold for the month roughly 11.1% of those sales were over the asking price and for condos that number was also about 11.1%. The average over asking price for homes that sold was about 1.01% and for condos that number was also about 1.01%. On the other side of the coin 17.5% of the single family homes had price reductions and 30% of the condos went down in price.
At the beginning of 2015 sales of single family homes are down about 3.1% while condos are basically where they were at the start of 2014. The big stories for the year are the high end with 17 sales over $5 million, and escrows are up substantially for both homes and condos. Currently the inventory is up for homes but flat for condos so if the listings continue up for homes then 2015 will be a robust year. But if the pattern continues for condos then their sales will flatten out.
